Sora hurried to Ponyville and with some help from ponies that weren't staring at him like he was from another planet, he arrived at the train station along with Riku just as the train was pulling away. The train was increasing its speed and Sora and Riku had to sprint alongside it and jump into an open window. Of course, they paid the train attendant not to expose them and even gave him extra to actually pay for the ride. Their money had no value, but they were able to borrow some money from Twilight.
"Whew. That was close," breathed Sora.
"Yeah. Thanks for opening the window guys," said Riku.
"No problem," said Rainbow. "So when we get to Manehattan, what should we do?"
"Actually," broke in Twilight, "all of the trains to Manehattan have been cancelled due to the attack, so I got us tickets to a nearby station. We'll have to walk there."
"Ok. I just hope we get there soon," said Sora. Just then, the entire train shook for a second as if something had just jumped onto one of the cars. "What was that?"
"I don't know," said Twilight. "Let's check it out. It felt like it landed on one of the back cars." Together, everyone began making their way from one car to the next until they came to the last one. "Let's check the roof. Sora, Riku, you go up first. We'll be right behind you." Sora and Riku nodded and made their way up to the top of the train. Their jaws dropped at what they saw.
Farther down the train, a giant heartless was pounding on the roof of the car that Sora, Riku, and the ponies were meeting in. It had glowing red eyes and chains around its ankles. It appeared to be four legged and it had blue lines running along the length of its body. Its mouth had black, jagged teeth and from its head protruded several red pieces of flesh. Those combined with massive purple claws sent a chill down Sora and Riku's spines. Twilight was the only one to make it up the ladder before a magical barrier blocked off the other ponies and surrounded the top of the train. Everyone summoned their keyblades and prepared for the massive creature to charge.
"What is that thing?" asked Twilight.
"I think it's a heartless," said Riku. "Whatever the case, we have to stop it."
"Do you think that's the thing that attacked Manehattan?" asked Sora.
"No time to talk now. We'll work it out later," said Riku. "Look out! Here it comes!" The massive heartless let out a deafening roar before leaping at the three heroes.
Riku and Twilight both teleported while Sora rolled under the massive creature as it landed where they were just standing. Twilight and Riku appeared next to Sora and together, they charged at the heartless while its back was turned. They jumped and prepared to bring their keyblades down on its back when it spun and clawed them all out of the sky. If it wouldn't have been for the heartless's barrier, Twilight would have been launched off the train. She slammed into the barrier and fell to the roof, motionless.
"Riku!" yelled Sora. Riku charged towards Sora and disappeared as light into him. Sora lifted into the air, a barrier formed around him, and he transformed into master form. Well at least, that was the plan. Instead, as Twilight was picking herself up, she saw some sort of heartless Sora. His clothes had turned a hazy black and he was covered in a dark aura. Even his skin was pitch black. The thing that scared her the most was his pair of glowing yellow eyes.
Sora turned to Twilight and though he couldn't speak, she could tell he was cursing as he shook his head in annoyance. He then turned and leapt straight at the heartless, clawing it over and over and even dealing considerable damage. Again and again, the dark Sora teleported around the heartless, unleashing massive flurries of attacks. While the heartless landed a couple of hits, most of them missed and Sora kept pounding at it, never letting up. However, he seemed to lack any control. He kept attacking and wouldn't let up.
That is, before the heartless clawed him again, this time finishing him.
Twilight watched in horror as Sora and Riku, now separated, went sailing over her head to land on the roof of another car. Both of them bounced several times before coming to a complete halt.
Suddenly, Sora began glowing in a strange light as a figure in a black cloak got up from what seemed like inside of him. The figure summoned the oathkeeper and oblivion keyblades and charged at the monster, cutting at it several times before casting a series of fireballs at it. The heartless roared in pain and disappeared, though the light where it stood kept distorting to give Twilight and the figure an idea of where it was.
It jumped at the figure and clawed him, pushing him back. His hood flew off to reveal the boy with the spiky blond hair. He charged again, this time swinging at what appeared to be thin air until Twilight heard the monster roar again in more pain. Twilight shook her head and rushed in to help, combining her keyblade strikes with the boy's. Together, they cut and slashed at the heartless until it roared one final time and dissolved into darkness.
The boy walked back over to Sora and Riku while the barrier fell and cast Cure on both of them. In a small flash of light, the boy disappeared and Sora and Riku stood up. "Did you two get him?" asked Sora.
"I think so," said Twilight. "But who was that boy?"
"That was Roxas," said Riku. "A while back, a friend of ours that's now stuck in the dark realm would follow Sora through the worlds, helping him whenever he fell in battle. But a while back, it stopped. While we were on our way to fight Xehanort, Sora was knocked out in one of the worlds. However, our friend didn't come to help. I called out for him a few times, but he never came. It was then that Roxas appeared. Before I knew what was happening, Roxas had jumped up from Sora like a ghost and had struck down our enemies. Ever since then, Roxas has been showing up to help Sora when he falls. Unfortunately, we've needed his help much more recently. He's been invaluable and I even fought him once. No heartless I know of can stop him."
"Wow," said Twilight as she tried to take in all of the information.
"Twilight!" shouted Rainbow Dash. She had landed on the roof of the same car wearing her keyblade armor and holding her keyblade. When she saw that all was clear, she deactivated her armor and dismissed her keyblade. "What happened to you guys?"
"There was a heartless," said Sora. "It was massive and unlike anything I've ever seen."
"Um, Sora? What about that thing that Aqua-"
"Sorry, Riku, I can't hear you that well. Musta been smacked hard by that heartless," said Sora nervously. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
"Well, let's head back in," she said. "The others are worried about you." Together, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Sora and Riku climbed back down the still moving train and got back inside the cars.
"Twilight, I need to talk to you," said Sora. "Meet me back at the caboose when you're ready." Twilight nodded and decided to talk now rather than later. Together, Sora and Twilight stepped out into the sunlight of the back of the train and shut the door behind them.
Meanwhile, inside the ponys' car, Rainbow Dash was busy thinking about Sora, Riku, and Twilight while voicing her concerns to her friends. "And when Riku started to mention something about the heartless, Sora cut him off like he didn't want us to hear it. I'm telling you, something's going on," she said.
"Oh, Ah'm sure it was nothin' Rainbow," said Applejack. "Jus' leave it alone." Rainbow turned away and frowned.
Riku stood outside the doorway with the gust of the train's roaring speed pounding him even in the sheltered area between cars. He overheard the conversation and started having doubts of his own. Why would Sora try to keep Aqua's time in the dark realm a secret?
/)*#*(\
Twilight shut the caboose door with her magic and met Sora at the rail guard. She leaned over it with him and watched as the ground whipped away from them. "Twilight?"
"Yes?" asked Twilight.
"We need to talk about a couple of things," said Sora. He seemed unsure where to begin. "I guess I'll start with events in order." He sounded much more serious and not in his normal positive tone. "When we were fighting that Darkside heartless, the one in our dream, I felt another heart connect with mine. It gave me strength and helped me destroy it. Now don't try to deny it. That heart I felt was yours."
Realization crossed Twilight's face and her fear had become a reality. She had no idea how Sora could've guessed it though. "I recognized it by its light. When I first arrived here and you and Fluttershy found Riku and I in that field, I could feel the light coming from your heart. It was so strong and I recognized it immediately when you connected with me."
"Are you mad?" asked Twilight, worried that she had somehow hurt her new friend.
"Not at all. Because of you, I was able to defeat the heartless. However, that doesn't change the fact that you could have been impossibly hurt and could've lost your heart in mine. Only the most experienced keyblade wielders have ever attempted that and it's almost never turned out well. Promise me you won't do it again."
"I promise," replied Twilight, scared and sorry because she knew she had made a mistake.
"Now, about that heartless. I didn't want to mention it with Rainbow Dash standing right there, which is why I cut off Riku, but I know what it was. It was a Hunter of the Dark. The bad news is it's still alive somewhere. Probably in Manehattan again. Aqua, one of the keyblade wielders that helped us fight Xehanort, fought one when she was stuck in the dark realm. She told us about it and we thought she had beaten it. But I guess it somehow survived. I didn't want to scare anyone because it is much too powerful for any of you to handle. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time on top of the train."
"What makes you think I'm not ready to fight it? I've fought the heartless. You've even helped me."
"True, but nothing like that before. Aqua told us everything she could about the battle. It didn't even use one of its stronger attacks. Otherwise, we would all be dead. Not even Roxas can stand up to that." Twilight hung her head. She thought they were all doing well, but she couldn't have been more wrong.
"The last thing I wanted to talk about is what happened during the battle," he said, continuing. "When Riku and I tried to combine again, I was hoping we could unleash an ability called Master Form. Unfortunately, I couldn't handle the transformation without two people and my heart almost collapsed, hence what you saw during the battle. Anti-form." Twilight committed the word to memory. "I'm asking you for something very important. If I fall into that darkness again, will you help me back?"
The question came as a bit of a surprise, but Twilight answered it truthfully. "Of course," she said. "That's what friends are for." She smiled at him and he smiled back.
"Thanks Twilight. Now let's head back in."
"Okay," she said. Together, the two keyblade wielders made their way back through the cars to the ponys' main car where they were able to rest before arriving at their stop.